Multicultural Marketplace Shows Need For Diversity

At Marriott International Inc., executives are aiming this year to buy 12 percent of their goods from suppliers owned by minorities and women, putting the power of the corporate purse to work in the service of diversity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., meanwhile, has engineered a "diversity maturity model," part of a broad management philosophy that, the company hopes, will transform an aging and largely white workforce.

Others see diversity almost as a state of mind: Stung by accounting scandals attributed to a "culture of arrogance," mortgage company Fannie Mae now includes "a diversity of thought, ideas and style" among its goals, said Emmanuel Bailey, the company's chief diversity officer.

Diversity -- equal parts moral concept and business imperative -- has become an increasing concern to some Washington area executives as companies organize to compete in a global and multicultural marketplace. Outsourcing has drawn U.S. firms close to affiliates and contractors in Asia and elsewhere; the Washington region is expected within a few years to become "majority minority."

"Unless somebody is asleep at the switch, they should be getting the message that they have to relate to the people buying their goods, products and services," said Weldon Latham, a senior partner at the Washington office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and chair of a group within the firm that counsels some of the nation's largest companies on how to enhance diversity.

As part of the preparation of The Post 200 ranking of major local firms, reporters surveyed 28 Washington area companies about their diversity policies and workforce statistics.

Some have made clear strides in appointing minority and female executives and board members. More than one-fourth of Marriott International Inc.'s board of directors is minority, for example, as is half of the board of gas utility WGL Holdings Inc. Others with a progressive reputation have not gone as far: The board at mortgage giant Fannie Mae is 8 percent minority.

Of the 28 companies surveyed, 8 declined to respond, including The Washington Post Co., and four others said they could not provide the information because of ongoing mergers or other reasons. Numbers aside, Latham and others agreed that diversity has become an important part of the corporate dialogue, informing day-to-day decision-making and long-term strategy. Diversity programs of some sort are becoming more common, and the set of strategies is wide-ranging -- from the broad to the specific.

Local utility Pepco Holdings Inc., for example, awarded chairman and chief executive Dennis R. Wraase a $601,920 bonus last year based not only on exceeding the company's earnings targets, but also on meeting its goals for recruiting and promoting minorities and women. Wireless giant Sprint Nextel Corp. gives a job satisfaction survey to 10,000 employees each quarter that includes the question, "How satisfied are you with your company's emphasis on diversity?"

As noted recently by Robin Pence, vice president of communications for international energy company AES Corp., successful companies must deal across a range of cultures and backgrounds, even in their own back yard. The 267 employees at AES's Arlington headquarters represent 28 nationalities and speak 33 languages.

"We are in 26 countries, on five continents, and 90% of our people live and work outside of the U.S.," she wrote in an e-mail response to inquiries about diversity. "Three out of the four presidents that lead our businesses around the world are nonwhite non-Americans."

Staff writer Dina ElBoghdady contributed to this report.